Will You Stay?
by ChaoticRevolution
Summary: AkashixOC fanfiction Everybody knows who Akashi is, and everybody knows he can do. It seems like the world fears him ,including our Hana. She always hoped that the day will never come when she gets discovered by Akashi. She would love to live her life without fearing she might lose it one day. But when that day finally comes and Akashi wants to let her in his life, will she stay?
1. Prolouge

_Click click!_

" _Excuse me, I have a question._ ", a petite young lady sitting in the middle of the crowd raises her hand. Another journalist.

I've been sitting here in front of all these people for a good three hours now, answering as many questions as I can whilst trying to keep a smile on my face despite losing patience.

Fans and journalists filled the room, each carrying a notebook or some sort of item that they would probably want signed later on. I politely smiled at the red-headed journalist before me,

"Yes?"

"What can you say about Sir Akashi?"

Well, this isn't the first time I've had to answer this question, in fact, I have something prepared for it. I gave a soft chuckle and lowered my hand slightly beneath the table, I subtly looked at the note scribbled at the palm of my hand and took the microphone sitting in front of me,

"He is a very _interesting_ man to say the least."

I was responded with a smile from the journalist as she nodded and sat down.

A few more minutes went by and the manager signaled the start of a one-hour break, gesturing everybody to vacate the room and come back when the conference reopens.

I remained seated in my chair and began to think, _what do I think of Akashi?_

Well, back in high school, he wasn't _just_ Rakuzan's prized player. He was also the school's best student; he was dubbed the _Rakuzan Prince_. As generic and cringe-worthy as it sounds, it carried quite a bit of weight in his overall reputation.

Though he was popular with the ladies, as well as the gentlemen, he never really bothered to associate himself with them on a personal level. As the team captain, he was always pretty hard on his subordinates. As the student council president, he was always strict about the rules. Perhaps the reason why he wasn't a part of the elite circle of friends was the fact that everybody in the entire student body feared his existence. No one would even dare go near him, much less anger him in any way.

Now that I think about it, I never really feared him I that much back then. Maybe it"s because of the fact that I didn't quite catch his attention. Those people who were deathly terrified of him at the time were those people who he has nearly killed. The rest of us were somewhat invisible to him.

It felt so much better that way, not having to worry for dear life every single day. It"s amazing how I didn't register in his radar, considering he was my classmate, and that we practically sat almost right next to each other.

"Hana! Aren't you going to come eat yet?", the voice of the manager rang my ears, as I snapped out of my little expositional daydream.

"Yeah, sure. I'll join you in a bit."

I started taking the pieces of paper scattered on the table and placed them to one side before standing up and taking my purse.

 _Bark Bark!_

"Yes, yes, we're going. Sorry about that Nigou.", I smiled at my dog which was sitting next to me, waiting this entire time.

I've had Nigou for well over 10 years now, I remember when he used to be a puppy. I always kept him hidden in the storage room in the school rooftop. I lived alone at the time, and I just couldn't leave Nigou alone at the flower shop. I never really had that much friends, so I would always go and hang around with Nigou in the rooftop whenever I had the chance.

Nigou was a parting gift from my parents before I decided to run the flower shop in Kyoto when I qualified for Rakuzan High. My father owned a company in Hokkaido, and so he couldn't really leave. He also need to keep constant watch of my mother who was bedridden at the time. As much as my parents wanted me to live a luxurious life despite being apart from them, I didn't want to be a financial burden. My father already had enough to pay for: My tuition, my mother's medical bills, and Akashi's sponsorship.

There are over 50 companies in Japan which sponsor Akashi in his games, and my father's company was one of them.

I remember every detail of the different occurrences in my life since I moved to Rakuzan High, not necessarily because they were very enjoyable, but simply because it was those next few years which changed the course of my life.

It was also because of those next few years that I'm sitting in this press conference.

 _ **11/20/XXXX**_

 **Dear Diary,**

 _Today wasn't exactly a very good day. I'm no longer invisible. I think I finally registered myself into his radar, and not in a good way too._

 _We'll get to that; you're going to need a little bit of background on how I messed up._

 _It started as I was walking up to the school rooftop, as usual, to go see Nigou. I opened the janitor's closet to find Nigou sleeping behind the mop, beside what seemed like a blue stuffed bear._

"Nigou?", I called out whispering, waking him instantly.

His tail wagged as he barked playfully, he walked towards me as he carried the blue bear in his mouth.

"What's this?", I inspected the small toy and smiled at the bright-eyed dog in front of me.

I took out some food from my bag and placed in in the food bowl across the small room, at the same time replacing his old water as well.

You could hear the rattling of the food bowl as Nigou munched all his food away.

I took the time to inspect the bear some more. It was a small blue bear wearing a white shirt. I chuckled at the cute face it made, it resembled that of a curious child in a way.

I looked at my watch, and realized that I'm going to have to get going if I want to make it to class in time.

I breathed a deep sigh, "Well, I guess I'll pick you up later then." I petted the whining ball of fur as I stood up and left the room, closing the door behind me.

I walked down a couple of flights of stairs before eventually reaching our hallway, from there you could see our class president, Akashi, checking for uniforms and IDs.

" _Speaking of IDs, wasn't I wearing one just now?"_ , I asked myself as I patted around my uniform looking for it. A wave of relief rushed over me when I felt my card sitting inside my skirt pocket. I then took a quick turn towards the bathroom to check for any other errors I may have.

Once I made sure everything looked ship-shape, I exited the bathroom and proceeded to walk towards the classroom. I held my breath as I walked passed Akashi who was eyeing me from head to toe as I went through. He stopped me for a moment, eyed my uniform once more, before nodding –signaling me to go on ahead.

I sat on my chair and proceeded to review for today's assessment. Though I'm not exactly _failing_ per se, I'm just not excelling all that much. Perhaps I'm between _average_ and just _slightly_ above average.

"Good Afternoon, class.", a voice snapped me back to reality. I looked up to find Ms. Chi smiling at the class as she placed her things on the table.

"Alright, everybody, please prepare your textbooks. We will be having a short quiz in a few minutes as promised yesterday."

As everybody did as she asked, her expression changed as she looked around the room.

I took my textbook out of my bag before looking up to find Ms. Chi smiling and pointing at my direction, "Ms. Hazukashii, may I have a word with you outside please?"

I stood up reluctantly and stepped out of the room, eyes following me as I did so.

I looked up at Ms. Chi who seemed quite nervous as well, "Is there something wrong?"

"I, uh…", she cleared her throat before continuing, "I have a favor to ask of you, Hana."

"What is it?"

"I need some flow – _bouquets_ for a dinner party I'm holding tonight", her voice trailed off as if to withhold something.

"Bouquets? Yes, of course, no problem! How may do you need?", I smiled and crossed my arms, relieved. I was almost sure I was going to get reprimanded for bring a dog into the school premises.

Ms. Chi twiddled her thumbs, looked to the side, and mumbled the answer to my question.

"I'm sorry?" I leaned in closer to hear her better.

She sighed and looked at me, " _A hundred_."

I could almost swear I felt my soul leave my body for a bit there. The thing is, I work and maintain the flower shop by myself. My most recent helper left to tend to some personal matters, and since then, I've learn to somehow manage things by myself.

"A hundred…" I mumbled, "…And you need this tonight?"

"Yes. White and red roses with pink carnations."

"Well…"

"Don't worry dear, I know you're going to need some time so how about this; I'll be excusing you from the rest of your classes. I have your excuse slip right here." She gave a cheeky smile as she handed me the slip.

' _Class 3-8: Hazukashii Hana_

 _Fever_

 _Recommendation: Home rest for 1-2 days_

 _Signed,_

 _Tenshi Shurui, School Nurse'_

I stared at the excuse letter, it's almost like God wanted an ex-machina to get me out of school so early.

"There's a catch, though.", she sighed, "You can't leave till after lunch."

"Why is that?"

"The nurse wanted to make the excuse as believable as possible. Leaving right away would seem too suspicious since you don't look sick at all.", she grinned at the nurse's logic, "Basically, she wants to have _some sort_ of build-up for your 'fever'. Your next class is Physical Ed., followed by Swimming right? That should do the trick."

' _Definite ex-machina',_ I thought to myself.

She patted me on the head as she took the slip from my hands, "Do you best with those bouquets, okay? I'm going to need them by seven."

With a final 'thank you', she re-entered the classroom and I did the same, walking back to my chair as I continued to review.

An hour later, the assessment was done, and everyone stood up and left for the locker rooms. Everyone but me and some other girl frantically going through her bag.

"Hey, are you looking for something?" I ask as I approach her," Maybe I can help."

She looked up at me with big, teary, purple orbs, "I took my uniform home to wash it, and I didn't seem to bring it with me today. Though I could've sworn I placed it here!", she hiccupped as she tried not to get too emotional as she went through her stuff.

"If you want, I can lend you an extra uniform I have." I muttered, earning a quick change in mood from the grey-haired girl.

"You'd do that?!" She held my shoulders with a big smile and shook me when I nodded _'yes'_.

We walked to the locker room, and I handed her m extra uniform sitting in my cabinet.

She held the clothes in her arms, "So, you're Hazukashii, right? Hazukashii Hana?", she smiled.

I nodded, "And you are, Tanoshi?"

She giggled, "Call me Itsumo! Well, we better go get changed, class starts in two minutes."

"You don't seem all that rattled about it." I remarked.

"It can't hurt to be late _once_ , right?"

"It seems you have forgotten that we are classmates with Akashi.", I sighed.

She laughed, "He's not _that_ bad, come on. I'm _sure_ he'll let us go just this one time."

"Oh? How are you so sure about that?"

I couldn't help but smile at her carefree attitude.

"We're childhood friends! We'll be _fine_!" She winked and turned around, "Now, let go change! We wouldn't want to be _too_ late!", she said as she started to hum a merry tune.

I didn't think I'd ever see myself frolicking towards class _twenty minutes_ late. Fortunately, our teacher was still wasting time with his sermon about wasting time. Funny.

" _See,_ What'd I tell you, huh?" She elbowed me lightly, winking, "We're fine, right?"

"Tanoshi!", our instructor yelled out.

Itsumo responded with a chirpy voice, "Yes sir?"

"Come up here and lead the warm up session, it's your lead this week!"

"Alright! No problem!", she yelled back smiling and looked back at me, "Well, let's get on with class then!"

I smiled and gestured for her to go on up front.

The class continued. After running 50 laps around the field, we were all almost on the brink of collapsing. Itsumo and I walked towards the bleachers and took a bottle of water sitting on the table beside it.

"Are we seriously going to be late _again_?" I asked her chuckling.

"It's _swimming_! I promise you, no one will even notice a thing!"

I giggled as I took a sip of water, "If you say so."

"So, are you ready to go yet?" She asked, jumping of the bleacher seat and jogging in place.

I smiled and nodded, "Sure, let's go!"

"Race you there!", she laughed and rushed off.

' _Well, she's a fast one.'_

I shook my head and stretched.

"Yep, I wonder where she gets all that energy from.", I mumbled to myself and chuckled.

I was about to stand up when I felt a heavy hand resting on my shoulder, keeping me seated. My eyes widened and I looked up to see who it was, finding a red-headed guy sitting by the stair right behind me. He furrowed his eyebrows and focused his eyes on mine, he leaned in close and whispered in a low, husky voice, _"You're late."_

That was the day that I was discovered by his radar.


	2. Chapter 1

_In that moment, I swear, I couldn't move a muscle. It felt like as if I was standing in front of a large dragon. Yes, I know, childish comparison, but you get the point…_

His eyes continued to pierce my own vision, sending chills down my spine.

"Well?", he frowned, squeezing my shoulder.

I winced, "I'm—it won't happen again.", I wasn't quite sure what to say. I've heard a lot about Akashi, apart from all the praise he receives, he is known to become too violent at times.

I gulped and closed my eyes tight, "We sh-should get to class…", I muttered as I watched a group of teachers walk close by.

He let go of my shoulder and stood up, keeping his eye on the same group of teachers, catching their attention. He smiled politely at them and looked back at me, "Follow me, I need to speak to you in private."

I gave a shaky nod and did as he asked tailing right behind him as he led me right under the bleachers before stopping and leaning against a foundation post.

"So tell me…", he stared at me with a blank expression, "…Where exactly do you plan on running off to?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Excuse me?"

"Your excuse slip fell from Ms. Chi's pocket earlier today.", he sighed, "Fever? You seem fine to me."

"I – "

"If you're going to come up with an excuse to skip classes, at least make it _somewhat_ believable.", he chuckled.

"I needed to do something tonight."

"Do what, exactly? You run and own a flower shop by yourself, you only take orders online and at least a week before the client needs their bouquet or whatever. You live alone, you don't have to watch over anyone besides your dog. So what exactly _is it_ that you have to do?", He continued to look at me with an irked expression.

' _What's the harm in telling the truth, right?'_

I sighed and looked at him in the eye, "Ms. Chi asked me to do a favor for her.", to which Akashi responded with an eyebrow raise. I took that as a sign to continue with my explanation,

"She told me she needed one hundred bouquets for a dinner party she's holding tonight."

Akashi crossed his arms, "She didn't ask you to make them earlier?"

"Nope."

He sighed and held the bridge of his nose, muttering something to himself before looking at me, staring for a brief moment before speaking, "I'll let you off this time."

"What? Seriously?", I held my forehead in disbelief, "You're not…"

' _Remember when I mentioned having an "ex-machina" today? I honestly think this is what today's ex-machina actually was. I just got away scot-free. Though, the more I think about it, it's impossible for me to have my ass saved just like that…'_

I stared at his expressionless face, "There's a catch, isn't there?", I watched as his lips formed a slight smirk.

"So, it's true then.", he chuckled, "You _are_ smarter than you look."

"So what's the catch?", I asked, my heart beginning to race.

"I'll speak to you about it some other time. Right now, we should be heading to class.", he sighed as he stood straight and began to walk away, "Fever. Ha."

I heard his tongue click one last time before he was completely out of my sight.

I breathed a sigh of relief and bolted in the opposite direction to get to class.

' _If taking a long cut means not having to walk alongside him then so be it._ '

The swimming pool is two buildings away from the one I'm currently in, and I'm already running twenty minutes late, _'Shit.'_

I ran down numerous flights of stairs panting as I locked my vision onto my watch. It didn't help that I had just come from track and field class either. I cursed under my breath as it seemed that the hallways were endless, and at that moment, I began to think up of possible excuses or probably even a way out of this class. Escaping was no longer an option as I found myself outside the first building.

' _One more to go… Better go all the way then_.'

I ran inside the second building and found myself face-planting on the ground.

"What the—", I held my forehead as I got up

 _Bark bark!_

"Huh?"

 _Bam!_

A gush of wind came by and a speeding human had just run past me, bumping my arm and knocking me back onto the ground. I turned and saw that the stranger had already exited the building.

' _I could almost swear, that was Nigou… Also, whoever was is pretty damn rude.'_

I stood up patting my jogging pants as I took a look at my watch.

"Shit. 30 minutes." I bolted to the door, feeling the soreness of my muscles kicking in, "Is it even worth entering class at this point?" I panted, trying to ignore the ridiculous length of this hallway. I shut my eyes, and before I knew it, I was outside, just a few meters from the gate of the pool. I could hear my classmates talking amongst themselves inside, as our instructor blew his whistle.

"Shit." I ran around the building and entered through the back, which led straight to the locker rooms. I sped to my locker and changed as quickly as I could before speed walking to the pool area, trying to look as casual as possible.

' _Looks like everybody did their laps already…'_ , I thought to myself as I looked around, and saw my classmates.

"So it seems only Ms. Hazukashii isn't around this hour. However, she did in fact attend the last period, right Akashi?" The instructor held his chin as me mumbled a few words to Akashi as he nodded.

"An extra 50 laps it is then." The instructor sighed and held the bridge of his nose, "Quite disappointing. The youth these days, really. They need to take their classes seriously, and stop cutting."

I cleared my throat, "S-sir, I'm right here..." I raised my hand and tried to regulate my breathing.

"You're all red! What happened to you?" The instructor remarked as he took several steps towards me.

Akashi sighed and blocked his way, facing me, "I'll deal with her. You can go ahead and proceed with the rest of the class.", he turned his head towards the instructor as he gave a polite smile, "Rest assured, I will let her do the extra 50 laps."

"W-well, okay then, if you say so, Akashi." He muttered and walked away, blowing on his whistle, signaling that everybody should get changed and leave.

I shut my eyes tight as Akashi turned to face me once more, "Really, Hazukashii? Taking the long way, delaying yourself even more?", he chuckled, "No matter, since you're late, you're going to have to get punished."

A pregnant pause filled the air as we listened to the students walk to the locker rooms.

"I'll leave everything to you, then." The instructor waved his hand and placed his clipboard on the bench behind me, as we walked out of the building.

He placed his hand on my head, "Open your eyes, Hazukashii. You're going to need to see if you're going to dive and swim 100 laps."

I breathed a deep sigh and opened my eyes, looking directly at him, "Alright then.", I took his hand off my head and walked towards the ladder leading up to the diving board.

' _My fear of heights is making this way more difficult than it's supposed to be. I'm relying on you, adrenalin.'_

I mustered up the courage to climb the ladder without whimpering, every step leading me farther and farther away from the ground. I shut my eyes tight, feeling for the next bar as I ascended. When I finally reached the top, I sighed in relief before holding my breath and slightly choking at the thought of jumping.

I clenched my fists and walked closer to the edge of the board, eyes closed tight.I took a slight peek and tried to get myself used to the height.

 _It was as that moment that I wished I hadn't stood so close to the edge._

" _Jump_.", Akashi's voice caused me to jerk and fall off the board, making me land front-first into the water. The painful splat against the water upon impact, made everything feel so blurry, and caused me to float around in the water for a few moments before swimming to the edge of the pool and climbing out.

"Out of a hundred? Twenty. However, I'll give you an additional thirty point for the entertainment value", Akashi flashed a mocking grin as he wrote my score on the instructor's clipboard, "At least you passed, though you're not done yet."

I felt my skin stinging, I winced and coughed up some water I had swallowed before I spoke, "Well aware of that."

I saw his eyebrow twitch as he walked passed me, "Just get in the water. Fifty laps."

"Fifty? I thou—"

"Do you _want_ to do one hundred laps?", he stopped in his tracks and turned to face me, slightly annoyed.

"No, no. I'll uh… I'll take the fifty." I stuttered and entered the water, submerging half of my face, "Thanks…" I mumbled, creating bubbles as I did so.

Akashi took out a whistle in his pocket, "Ready. Go.", he signaled from across the room and whistled.

Ten laps in, and my vision became slightly fuzzy. Twenty-five laps in, I felt myself losing the feeling of my arms and legs. After the 50th lap, I rose from the water and almost collapsed, only to be caught by Akashi. I couldn't help but lean against him as I slowly drifted to sleep.

 _Beep!_

 _Beep!_

 _Beep!_

I shot my eyes open to the sound of my phone's alarm. I sat up and turned it off, immediately feeling my stinging skin and sore body. I looked around and found myself in the infirmary, my bag along with my school uniform sat in a chair to my left. I looked at the time,

' _12:55 pm_ '

"How are you? Akashi brought you in, saying you weren't feeling well. Looks like I'm going to have to make another slip for you.", the nurse sighed, "This time, it'll be for real. Are you sure you can work on those bouquets in time for the event?"

' _Crap, I completely forgot about those.'_

I smiled, "Of course I can! If this body won't let me, I'll force it to!"

"Be careful with yourself. He also brought in your stuff, in case you haven't noticed yet. Also, about your dog…" She trailed off.

"How'd you know about my dog?" I asked, earning myself a slight giggle from the nurse, "A majority of the staff knows, Hana. Don't worry, they're fine with it. So yeah, Akashi volunteered to bring it home."

"What do you mean?"

"He said you shouldn't be pushing yourself, and that it wouldn't be worth the extra effort to climb up all those stairs to go get him.", she explained as she wrote down my excuse slip, "I understand that though. After all, if something were to happen to you, chances are the blame will be put on him, being the President and all."

She smiled and handed me the slip, "A second excuse slip will seem rather sketchy, you're going to need to have this one signed by Akashi. He's in the student council office."

I took the slip from her hands and slowly got out of bed, "Thanks miss…"

"No problem, though you're going to want to change first." She smiled and pointed my uniform on the chair.

I nodded and drew the curtains, I took a sniff of my shoulder and arm for chlorine, finding it weird that the scent wasn't there, all I could catch was the faint scent of soap, and Akashi.

' _Did he seriously give me a quick shower while I was unconscious?'_ , my face fumed at the idea. I shook my head and stripped off my clothes.

' _I don't know if I should consider that sweet or creepy_. _Ah, I suppose it was merely him trying his best to keep himself from looking like a bad President…or something.'_

Once I had finished changing, I drew the curtains back and carried my bag, holding the slip in one hand.

"Well then, I'll be going then miss." I smiled and bowed before exiting the room.

I walked along the hallway, looking for the council office, ignoring the awful feeling of my body. It took some time, and several breaks, but I eventually found it.

 _Knock knock_

The door opened, and to my surprise, I find Itsumo standing by the door with puffy eyes.

"Woah. Itsumo? What happened?", I asked, only to be ignored as she walked right past me.

Akashi was sitting by his desk, sighing and holding the bridge of his nose, _'I wonder what they fought about._ '

"I.."

"Come in."

I entered the room and walked towards him, handing him the slip, "The nurse asked me to let you sign this.", I cleared my throat, "Thank you, I guess, for a while ago…"

He looked up at me and took the slip, reading it, and smirking, "That's more like it. Aren't you going to thank me?"

I raised my eyebrow, "Thank you for what, exactly?"

"I gave you a legitimate reason to go home.", he smiled, a hint of amber glimmered in his red orb, "Though I honestly thought it would take much more than just running a few hundred meters, falling off a diving board, and swimming a few laps."

He chuckled and signed the slip, handing it back to me afterwards, "Oh and by the way, I'm saving those extra fifty laps for next time."

I gave a polite smile and exited the room.

 _Clank!_

I turned my head to the sound of metal hitting the doorframe, only to find a pair of scissors piercing the metal frame.

"I don't recall saying you could leave." His red orbs were no longer how they used to be, he had a darker look in his eyes. His heterochromia piercing deep into my own vision. It was almost like he was this whole other person.

 _I believe that was the first time I encountered what they called the Emperor Eye_.

"Hana! Seriously! You need to get out of that chair and eat lunch with us!" Itsumo's voice woke me up from my flashback.

She went up the stage and took my arm as she dragged my off my chair, "Seriously, you have less than forty minutes left! Even Nigou went ahead already!"

I chuckled and stood up, "Well, well, what happened to _'it's okay to be late'_ Itsumo?"

She puffed up her cheeks, "Come on, Hana! That was _years_ ago! Were adults now!"

" _Right_ " , I said mockingly and giggled, "Let's go have lunch then."


End file.
